In order to reduce the likelihood of the vehicle keys becoming locked inside the vehicle it is common to provide at least one of the door latches on a vehicle with an inhibiting arrangement preventing the mechanism being set into the locked condition before latching has taken place i.e. while the door is open.
It is known from DE-A-2340301 to provide a latch assembly having a said inhibiting arrangement in which an inhibiting member linked to lock mechanism of the assembly is guided for movement between a blocking position at which it prevents shifting of said mechanism from unlocked to locked condition and a free position allowing said shifting to take place, said member being positioned to co-act with a relatively movable face of a latch formation of the assembly whereby the member abuts said face to prevent its displacement from the blocking position whenever that formation is not at a position at which it holds the associated door latched.
The object of the invention is to provide a latch assembly having locking mechanism with an inhibit arrangement which is simple, effective and reliable in operation; which is economical to manufacture and assemble; and which also functions in indexing or assisting the indexing of the locking mechanism so that it is more positively displaced and urged fully to its locked and unlocked conditions when not so inhibited.